Actually, this will be our third baby. We have a 4 year old and a two year old. The 4 year old has been to Waikiki and Aruba. The 2 year old to Aruba. I'll have to share some of my best pics of them from Aruba for you guys to critique. With a third coming, it'll be a handful traveling so we'll wait until the baby is a little older before going to any beaches.

Yeah, the wifey does love to get her picture taken. I wish I had a better camera when she was in her 20s. But she's still gorgeous.

So, I decided to get the 16-85mm but can't find it locally. B&H, Adorama and even Amazon only has it on backorder. the 16-85mm is available at Adorama but it is a Nikon refurbished lens for $70 cheaper than brand new. Should I just get that lens for the holidays or just wait until they get some new ones in?

I'm really falling in love with photography. I've put together picture books for the each of the kids for their first year of life and picture books for our vacations. I'd love to expand my subjects.

I just love how good photographers can just take shots of just about anything and with the perfect composition, lighting, etc, you've got a work of art. When work is slow, like it is now, I can spend all night looking at other people's photographs and trying to learn from them.

a good option to consider is the refurbed one, especially if it can get there before christmas day!!! Think of the memories.

with all honesty, a refurbed lens is a new lens. Sometimes it was an open box at a store, just sent back for repackaging, and they even look over those and tweak if necessary. sometimes it's a flaw that was caught on the manufacturing floor, and they pulled it off before it got to boxing, and just altered whatever may have been noticed.

I wouldn't be afraid to go refurbed because it means extra attention has been paid to that lens to ensure it's how it's meant to be, in some cases that may mean a refurbed is better then one you buy straight out of the box. Less chance for a flaw.

but you sacrifice some warranty, it's a trade off.

If you're anything like me, warranty doesn't mean anything more then an opportunity to upgrade to something newer.